1. Field of the Invention
Many ovens or barbecues are equipped with a device for the grilling or browning roasts, chicken and other small fowl. These devices are commonly called rotisseries.
These rotisseries are normally composed of a 4-sided spit or rod. One end of the spit has a handle, while on the opposing end is pointed and is sized to fit into a grill motor. The most common method of supporting the spit, while in use, is by fabricating notches in opposing sides of the barbecue.
In conventional ovens, such as those used inside the home, a grill motor is permanently installed into one wall of the oven. The opposing wall has an indentation molded or formed into the opposing wall, which allows the spit to freely rotate. The grill motor slowly rotates the spit, assuring that the food is even browned.
The current arrangements on the spits today consist of two opposing spike assemblies where each spike assembly consists of at least two (and sometimes more) spikes attached to a sleeve. The sleeve has a hole in the shape of the spit, which will allow the spike assembly to be easily slid along the spit. This allows for easy positioning of the spike assembly. The spike assembly can be temporarily fixed in place by a thumb screw, which will friction-lock the spike assembly to the desired position. The chef will slide one of these sets of spikes on the spit before the meat is cooked.
The meat is then slid onto the spit, until it is speared by the spikes of one spike assembly. The opposing spike assembly is slid onto the spit, so that the two sets of opposing spikes will hold the meat in place on the spit. The grill motor rotates the rod, which rotates the spit.
Cooking fowl poses certain inherent difficulties, since most chefs will spear the fowl through the wings or thighs in order to prevent the fowl from hanging down too close to the heat source. This causes the fowl to cook unevenly, thus burning portions of the fowl before the rest of the fowl is cooked.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rotisserie baskets are well known in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,477 by John Waltman discloses a Clamping Member for a Rotisserie. This invention describes a pair of end plates being separated by a plurality of circumferentially spaced rods which are secured to the end plates. One pair of rods are adjacent and opposed from each other and provide an opening for food to be placed in the interior of the cradle. A series of clamping members are disposed on the pair of adjacent rods and secure the food in the cradle.
This invention differs from the present invention in that the food is clamped by rods by spearing the food with prongs attached to the L-shaped rods. The food clamps are held in position by adjustable screws. The present invention does not use any prongs that penetrate the food but rather uses clamping pressure to secure the food within the basket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,022 by Schmid discloses an Oven System. The patent describes an device that has rotating disks. The disks have rack frames rotatably mounted between the rotating disks which allows foods to be placed within the frames and to be evenly cooked.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,767 by Beller discloses a Spit Basket. This invention discloses a series of prongs attached to an upper and a lower basket housing. A spit is inserted through the food to be cooked. Upper and lower basket housings are slid on rod assemblies to the desired positions, and then secured by nut elements. The prongs penetrate through the carcass and hold it in position, preventing shredding of the meat when rotated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,986 by Eisenberg discloses a Cage Rotisserie. This invention discloses a rotating cylindrical cage that has two baskets located inside. One basket is smaller than the opposing basket allowing it to fit inside the opposing basket while securing the food to be cooked. One of the objects of this invention is to receive food without piercing the food, as in other rotisseries.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,450 by Carpenter discloses an Outdoor Cooking Apparatus. The patent discloses sectional drum arrangements that are detachably connected to each other and would hold the food within the drum, when assembled. A spit would penetrate through the end plates of the drum both to support the drum on its mounts, and to support the food within the drum. The spit would be long enough to be rotatably mounted onto a pair of A-Frames.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,159 discloses a Rotisserie. The rotisserie of this invention consists of a drum, which is large enough for roasts and the like, and uses a spit arrangement to secure the meat for cooking. The rotisserie also has a double drum arrangement which secures smaller foodstuffs such as vegetables on the outer surface which is between the inner drum and an outer drum for even cooking. Access to the inner and outer drum is by access doors mounted onto the cylinders.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,613 by Waltman discloses a Rotisserie. The Waltman patent discloses a number of embodiments. One embodiment has a basket that is able to be vertically positioned above the heat source. The cradle has opposing end plates that have longitudinal rods that support the meat to be cooked. The cradle also has clamping members to support the food when the cradle is rotated.
A second embodiment of the Waltman patent discloses a cradle that has end-plates that have radially disposed slots. When one end plate is rotated (control plate), the radial and angular position of the longitudinal rods with respect to the longitudinal axis is varied, clamping the food for cooking.
A third embodiment of the Waltman patent is an extension of the aforementioned second embodiment. U-shaped members are pivotally secured to opposing longitudinal rods to open and close the opening to the cradle.
The purpose of the present invention is to create a rotisserie basket that is capable of browning meat, such as roasts, chickens and other small fowl, evenly without burning portions of the meat.
The object of the invention is to create a rotisserie which will not require the meat or small fowl to be speared by spikes or a spit. Then the small fowl could be evenly heated during the cooking process without burning the portion of the food closest to the grill.
Another object of the invention is to create a rotisserie that is capable of even cooking of the food without piercing the food, which allows the liquid, or drippings from the food to remain inside, preventing flare-up from the food""s drippings being ignited by the cooking flame, and also prevents the food from drying out because the drippings escape the food.
This problem was solved by designing a drum shaped basket. The drum shaped basket has a center axle which does not penetrate the center of the basket, but instead is attached to opposing end walls of the basket. One end of the center axle has a handle mounted on it and is longer than the opposing end of the center axle, which will interface with a grill motor.
The meat or fowl will be held in the drum shaped basket by at least one leaf spring, which will keep the fowl centered within the basket, thus ensuring even heating and cooking of the food.